Niverville Heritage Holdings had a chance this week to show off construction of its new clinic.

Spokesperson Gord Daman says this is a partnership between Heritage Holdings, the town, Niverville Medical Clinic and Southern Health. The clinic is a new concept, called "Open Health." Daman says it will provide assistance in everything from mental health to chronic care, using doctors, nurse practitioners and physician assistants.

The clinic is about seventy percent complete and Daman says they are targeting opening the space in June or July. He notes when it first opens, the clinic will provide regular hours. Eventually, it will grow to a seven-day format, having extended hours to allow residents of Niverville and the area to access health care providers without visiting an ER.

"What's really neat about this particular project is that operationally there is no new additional funding," says Daman.

He notes with the Heritage Centre being a campus of service to the community, they have been able to facilitate moving "folks" into the area without increasing their actual lease cost. They are also utilizing existing staff. Daman says an investment of about $700,000 in capital was needed to build this clinic. This was made possible through the cooperation of the town and Heritage Centre through ongoing fundraisers.

On Monday they had the opportunity to tour Health Minister Kelvin Goertzen, Morris MLA Shannon Martin, members of town council as well as representatives from Southern Health including CEO Kathy McPhail and Board Chair Abe Bergen.

"They see the project here as a bit of a pilot, not costing them anything," says Daman. "An example to the rest of the communities around that this is something that can be looked at around sustainability."

Daman questions with the health system facing economic and fiscal pressures, how can there be better outcomes with the same amount or even less money? He suggests Niverville is a shining example of how that works.

"(I) always have been impressed with Niverville," says Health Minister Goertzen. "They have been able to partner with other communities and with taxpayers within their own community to look at creative ways to build services."

Goertzen says the clinic will have a lot of new services funded from different models of revenue sources. But he says at the end of the day, residents don't care so much about how a clinic got built, but rather, what services are provided.

"I commend the leadership of Niverville for coming together and finding a way to provide the services in a way that I think is sustainable and a good model for other communities," adds Goertzen.

Goertzen says not every community can do this. But he says it is important for those communities that can, to make that effort.

According to Daman, once the clinic is complete, the campus will include about 250,000 square feet for a $50 million investment.